Juniper Brings 80 TB Router to the Edge

Juniper is updating its MX edge router family with two new large scale hardware platforms and new virtualization software capabilities.

The new MX 2020 router is a 20 slot, 7 foot chassis that can deliver up to 80 TB of edge routing capacity in a single platform. Also new is the 10 slot MX 2010 which is a 10 slot chassis, delivering up to 40 TB of capacity. Both platforms eclipse the MX 980 which had been the top end of Juniper's edge routing portfolio coming in at 8.8 TB.

Luc Ceuppens, VP of product marketing at Juniper told EnterpriseNetworkingPlanetthat the new MX hardware is compatible will all existing MX line cards that Juniper customers already have in place. In terms of physical size, the MX 2020 is three times larger than the MX 980, though Ceuppens noted that the MX 2020 delivers more than three times the performance.

He explained that the MX 2020 is based on the same Juniper Trios silicon as the existing MX 960. That said, Juniper has be able to integrate new advances in packaging and cooling in order to achieve the greater density in the MX 2020.

Virtual Chassis

Juniper does not expect that all of its customers will need or want to move to the bigger MX 2010 or MX 2020 platforms, though some might still want more scale. That's where the MX Virtual Chassis comes in.

Ceuppens explained that with the virtual chassis, existing MX 960 customers can continue to scale. What the technology will enable is for up to 8, MX 960 routers to be clustered together to from a single logical domain.

"Virtual Chassis allows you to grow the number of slots in a node, while maintaining one single control plane," Ceuppens said. "So the operational complexity is not increased when you increase the number of slots."

Mike Marcellin, SVP of product marketing and strategy at Juniper, added that Virtual Chassis isn't just for local groups of MX 960s either. With Virtual Chassis, the MX 960s can be separated by a few hundred kilometers which can provide near instantaneous disaster recovery failover.

Software Defined Networking

Juniper is also advancing the MX platform with a technology called Path Computational Element (PCE). Marcellin noted that PCE can be used to help enable a Software Defined Networking type of deployment. Juniper also has some support for the OpenFlow protocol as well to help enable the programmability of the network.

"OpenFlow can be used to select the specific flow that you want to do some kind of operation on," Marcellin said. "PCE is how you take those flows and steer them through the optimal path across a network."

Linux KVM

The JunosV App engine further enhances the MX routers with a Linux powered KVM virtual hypervisor. Marcellin noted that Juniper is using CentOS as the Linux base. CentOS is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The JunosV App engine is a hypervisor that enables service providers to run applications such as load balancing and security services at the edge of network

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.